Viborg´s impressive progress

After a disappointing CL performance last season, Viborg have done much better this year. Even though the players are pretty much the same and also injuries occurred recently, the club is in the semi-finals now after winning the preliminary group as well as the main round group.

Eurohandball.com has asked the head coach Jakob Vestergaard to explain this change.

Jakob Vestergaard: I don’t think you can compare the two seasons. A lot of changes have happened in Europe and also in our own team and coaching staff. We were extremely unfortunate last year and that was probably the main reason we failed to get further. We are very content that we made it this far this season, and of course our ambition is to play in the final now.

Eurohandball.com: Your opponents in the semi-finals will be Romanian champions Oltchim Valcea. How do you see that challenge?

Jakob Vestergaard: These are going to be two matches between two top teams again. It will be the four best teams in the world to meet in the semi-finals. Actually, it would not have been different for us to go to Hungary or to Romania. What really mattered was winning our group.

Eurohandball.com: I suppose it also matters that you will be playing the second leg at home?

Jakob Vestergaard: Yes, we are very content with that. One of our main reasons for going for the first place of our main round group was the prospect of finishing the semis at home.

Eurohandball.com: Your players will get a couple of weeks off in the CL before the first leg of the semi-finals. Apart from Popovic and Reiche, who are both out for the rest of the season, how many players can return from injury?

Jakob Vestergaard: I definitely hope that the rest will be fit. Katrine Lunde Haraldsen is out for another week, but after that I hope that she will be able to start trainings again.

Gitte Aaen has started already. Anja Althaus already played against Hypo and I hope that she can play the entire game in the semi-finals.

Eurohandball.com: Do you think the game against Hypo was prelude to the Champions League Final?

Jakob Vestergaard: I definitely hope that we can reach the final. I cannot say if Hypo could reach the final too, that will be up to them.

However, I think that our match against Hypo on Saturday was a real top game with a fantastic atmosphere around a match and it was played on a very high level. We are not only happy for winning that match, but also for playing such a game.